Doctor Who: Shades of Grey
by NemesisNexus
Summary: Back on 20th Century Earth, the Doctor comes across yet another crisis; invisible aliens who appear to be stealing colour from people and objects. But can everything be so black and white?
1. Chapter 1

The dark cinema screen was full to capacity, a usual occurrence for a Friday evening. Whether it be couples out on a first date, groups of friends starting a night out or flatmates bribed to be out of the house for the evening, all were looking for their own small escape from reality, just for a few hours. The lights had dimmed around half an hour ago, as the film started, which prompted a chorus of crunching popcorn and slurping drinks throughout the large room.

On the screen, two cars charged down a busy city street, the shot changing rapidly as they wove in and out of traffic, one a brilliant red the other a royal blue. The men in the audience were glued to the action, a smile creeping over their face as a car swerved from the road, rolling over and exploding in a ball of flame.

"Excuse me!" There was a groan from the people in the middle row as a man tapped the shoulder of the woman on the end seat. "Sorry!" He said in a hushed voice as she stood up from her folding seat, allowing him through. "Thanks! Sorry! Thank you!" He continued to his seat in the middle of the row, attempting not to brush people with his long brown coat, whilst keeping hold of the large bag of popcorn in his hands. "Sorry!" He mouthed to the man next to him, shrugging his coat off before folding the seat down and sitting on it. "Love a good action film, me!" He said, rather too loudly, grabbing a handful of popcorn. "Sorry!" He repeated again, as he was shushed by at least three people around him.

He did as they told him, nodding at them apologetically before turning his attention to the large screen. Was it just him, or could he see a faint shadow moving behind the screen itself? He pushed the thought out of his head and watched as the two vehicles continued to race each other, he wasn't too sure why. However fond he was of his TARDIS, it seemed like its temporal circuits needed some work. At least he was only half an hour late this time. What was thirty minutes compared to half a century anyway?

He looked around him as people started to mutter to each other all throughout the screen. Cheek! He thought. They tell me off, then…Then he looked up to the screen. From the bottom, the whole image had begun to lose its colour. The red and blue cars were becoming an identical black and white; the green and browns of trees were the same. Even the drivers of the vehicles were slowly becoming monochrome. The wave of complaints swept through the room, people looking up to the projection room, visible at the top of the back wall.

The Doctor, however, remained silent, leaning forward with interest, throwing another handful of popcorn in to his mouth.  
"Black and white!" He said, through a mouthful. "How retro!"

**

**Doctor Who**

Shades of Grey

Terry sat in the projection room, as he did almost every night for three weeks now.

"It's only until the end of the summer." He sighed to himself. Part of him wished he had taken his parents' advice sooner, and started looking for a job long before his exams had ended, but as usual he paid no notice. Now, he could see they were right. He wouldn't tell them that, of course. He ran a hand through his messy black hair and picked up the cardboard cup, drinking from the straw as he looked down to the screen below. All seemed fine, thank god. He didn't know whether it was the guys trying to wind him up, but there had been talk of at least two projectionists being warned tonight alone, for something going wrong during a showing. He didn't know what it was, but just knew he couldn't afford another warning. It wasn't that Terry was lazy; he just had no enthusiasm for the job. All he was waiting for was the end of summer, when he left for university, a chance to start over, a brand new chapter. Terry: Part Two. He grinned to himself, leaning back on his chair.

He was soon on his feet however, as he heard a strange buzzing noise from the other side of the door, an odd blue light coming through the key hole. The young man was about to step forward to open the door, when it swung open. On the other side was a tall man, dressed in a brown suit and flowing coat. His hair was all over the place, in the best sense of the term.

"You can't be in here." Terry said immediately. Was this some kind of test? "You need to leave."

"Later." The man said, un-confrontationally, as he stepped past Terry. The boy could now see what had been producing the light and sound, a small silver wand like device that the stranger was now pointing around the room.

"If they find you up here, that'll be it for me!" Terry tried to explain. "They'll fire me on the spot."

"Nah, course not." The man smiled. "Your just doing your job, just like me." He reached in to his pocket, and produced a small black leather wallet. "Projection inspector, see?" He was holding the open wallet out now, and Terry looked at the ID card carefully. Sure enough, it stated the man was a qualified engineer.

"Oh." Terry looked rather sheepish. "Sorry Mr. Smith"

"Doctor." The man replied, hurriedly placing the wallet back in to his pocket. "And not Doctor Smith, just the Doctor." Terry looked at him with narrowed eyes, but was interrupted before he had a chance to speak. "Yes, I know, pretty strange. But better get used to it." He looked through the viewing window to the screen below. "I think it's going to be a strange night."

"What!" Terry exclaimed, as he looked at the screen, the images, which had been in vibrant colour moments before, were now in a monochrome black and white. "What have you done?"

"Nothing." The Doctor shrugged. "It's been happening through the whole cinema." He was looking at the projection unit now, waving the strange wand over it.

"I need to get it working again!" The young man said with panic, trying to get round the Doctor so he could reach the projector. He swore to himself again, however, as the picture vanished from the screen. How the Doctor had done it, Terry wasn't quite sure but he assumed it was something to do with the wand.

The strange man had rushed over to the viewing window again.

"There'll be nothing there!" Terry snapped. "You stopped it! It's just projecting light now!"

"Exactly." The Doctor turned to him, placing the tube device in to his pocket once again. Below, customers were loudly complaining, some getting from their seats and leaving the screen. Time to look for another job, Terry thought to himself.

It was then that something caught his attention on the screen. The bright light shining on it seemed to be producing a shadow of some kind, not quite complete though, in some way. More like the outline of a shadow. From up here, the shape looked like a tall human, looking around as if they were confused about something.

"Who's that?" Terry asked quickly, before noticing that the Doctor was halfway out of the room.  
"No idea!" He replied, not stopping. "Let's find out, shall we?"

**

"What have the humans done?" The voice was quiet and spoke very slowly as the individual looked up to the now plain white screen that was looming over it.

"They have stopped the projection." Came another identical voice. "No matter. I have absorbed enough until we reach the next screen. Come, we shall continue."

They both looked in the general direction of one another, or what they assumed was the general direction of one another, sensing something. It was a strange frequency, emitting a high-pitched warbling sound.

"We have been located?" The first being said with surprise. It was a feeling they were not used to, after all not many people had the ability to see that which was invisible.

**

The double doors to the screen were flung open as the Doctor burst in, Sonic Screwdriver in hand, its glow lighting up the darkened room. A member of cinema staff attempted to stop him, but the Doctor simply walked past, leaving Terry to explain for him.

"There's something here." The Doctor muttered frustratedly to himself. "But where?" The Screwdriver lingered in the direction of the now empty cinema screen, and the Doctor caught sight of the odd shadows once again. People around him, those who hadn't walked out yet, were demanding answers from the shocked cinema staff, many already requesting a refund, free films in the future or even complimentary food.

The Doctor pressed at the almost invisible controls on the Screwdriver, before pointing it at the screen once again. This time, instead of the normal buzz, the device started to warble rapidly, the light flashing in time with the sound.

"Got you!" The Doctor exclaimed, hopping down the steps of the aisle towards the screen. Suddenly, he noticed the curtain on the right hand side move, as if being thrown out of the way by someone, or something.

"Everyone stay where you are!" The Doctor ordered, although he was already predicting, correctly it seemed, that no one was going to pay any notice to him. They were all to busy moaning about the money they had paid and the crazy guy in the long coat. In a sudden moment of realisation the Doctor worked out who they were talking about. He wasn't that crazy, was he?

His attention was soon grabbed however, as a young woman standing in the aisle fell, seemingly for no reason, towards an empty cinema seat. He quickly swung the Sonic Screwdriver towards her, and the sound increased.

"Everyone get away from there!" The Doctor shouted, before another man seemed to lose his balance. Or, that was how it seemed to anyone else watching. The Doctor knew better, however. He'd been shoved; there was no other explanation for it. The way his body had moved, it was impossible that he had just fallen. Besides that, two stupidly clumsy people in the same cinema screen? Impossible.

People were gathering around, helping the two people up. The Time Lord sighed, why did no one feel the need to listen to him? He fought through the small crowd, holding the Sonic Screwdriver above his head, trying to get the signal back. The device gave a weak reply as the Doctor saw the doors swinging closed on their own in front of a pair of confused staff.

"Terry!" The Doctor shouted. "Turn the lights on, will you?"

From his position near the door, the young man complied, filling the room with a bright light.

A bright light, followed by screams.

"What?" The Doctor asked loudly, rushing towards the small gathering of people, who were now backing away, leaving two in the centre, the man and woman who had fallen moments earlier.

It must have been too dark for anyone to have noticed earlier, the Doctor thought to himself, looking them over with interest, trying to work out what to say as the pair looked at their own hands.

Their perfectly white hands.

The Doctor looked at the young girl, sympathy on his face. Her black and white eyes looked back at him with fear, as she glanced at her long white hair, which had once been a brilliant blonde. Even her dress, formally an overly bright pink, had been reduced to black and white.

The crowd around him were starting to panic now, trying to get as far away from the two people as possible, as if they had some kind of disease. The Doctor found it amazing how humans rationalised things. He'd heard of feeling a little pale, but this was ridiculous. A virus that could completely drain someone of colour, their clothes included? No chance.

The Doctor just wished he had an idea as to what it was that had really caused it.

"What's happening?" One woman cried out, hysterically. "What's going on?"

"Well," the Doctor grimaced, stroking his chin. "You all like movies, right? So let's call it the invasion of the colour snatchers."


	2. Chapter 2

**

"Everything else seems fine." The Doctor smiled, having finished examining the young woman with the Sonic Screwdriver. "All healthy, just a bit," he paused for a moment, trying to find the right term, "grey, I suppose." He shrugged.

"But what did it?" The man beside her asked. "And how?"

"I don't know." The Doctor frowned, looking towards the doors. "Not yet." Then a sudden realisation hit him. Whilst he had been in here calming everyone down, whatever it was had probably kept on running, draining whatever it could. "Everyone stay here." He shouted with authority. "Whatever it is these things do, it looks like they need to touch." He adjusted the Screwdriver and waved it around the room quickly. "There's no more in here, so it's safe." He looked around the room. "So, stay here."

With that he dashed towards the double doors, where Terry and two other staff were still standing.

"Terry, keep them in." He requested kindly, to which the young man nodded in agreement. "Good man." He made to leave the room, before pausing once more, making a note of the screen number above the door. Screen Four. "Oh, and Terry?"

"Doctor?"

"If these doors open on their own, get out."

**

The carpet, which had been red earlier, the Doctor seemed to remember, was now a dull grey, the stains of various food and drink left now just darker patches. He looked to the left, where about a foot away, the carpet had retained its colour. For invisible creatures, the Doctor thought, they were proving easier to track than he had thought.

For now.

He sprinted down the corridor, occasionally glancing at the movie posters and large cardboard cut-outs surrounding him. The Doctor had gotten used to running down corridors, but none of them were usually this interesting to look at. No customers, the Doctor noted. He hoped that everyone was in a screen, hopefully one that wasn't being visited by an invisible visitor. Judging by the stretch of grey the lay ahead of him, the one that he was following, or it could have been two, he wasn't quite sure, had made their way to the lobby. Getting closer, he held the Sonic Screwdriver out in front of him once more, listening to the faint warble it produced. At least now, the Doctor thought, he knew why the TARDIS had decided to bring him here. It had been just another routine, for him anyway, random landing. He hadn't believed for one moment that the only reason he was here was to see a rather budget film about car racing. It had been a nice thought for a while, though.

The signal from the Screwdriver grew strong as he stepped in to the lobby, where sure enough, the invisible beings' presence was confirmed. On a quick first count, the Doctor spotted around half a dozen people who had been affected. He just had to hope they hadn't headed outside. Searching in here would be relatively easy, but out on the streets on London? Different story altogether. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw who he assumed was the manager standing in front of the only exit, surrounded by people, many of whom the Doctor recognised from the screen earlier.

"You can't get outside." The man said loudly. "Something, or someone has locked us in."

"Then break the windows!" Came a roar from the crowd.

"We've tried!" The manager responded. "We can't get through."

"Sounds like some kind of stasis field." The Doctor said calmly strolling over to the crowd. He looked out of the windows to the dark night outside. Why would whatever it was want everyone kept inside?

His train of thought was quickly interrupted by a scream from across the large lobby. His head shot around to see another young girl sprawled on the grey carpet, the colour quickly fading from her skin, clothes and hair.

"Somebody go and help her!" The Doctor ordered, as he rushed in her direction, Screwdriver primed. He quickly looked back to the stationary crowd. "Well? No one? You won't catch it you know!" He sprang back in to action as two young men stepped forward to help the girl up.

"Now, where are you?" The Doctor shouted loudly so that his voice echoed throughout the room. "You can't hide from me!" He thought for a second. "Well, maybe you can! But you can't hide from my Screwdriver. It's sonic you know!" He whipped around, hearing footsteps. No, only the young girl from moments before. The tone from the Sonic Screwdriver changed slightly as he darted to the left, towards the small confectionary stand, separated from the main lobby by three walls and, the Doctor noted, a metal shutter, which was currently open. He rushed forwards, waving the sonic device in an arc in front of him. As he progressed forwards, the Doctor could see the carpet a few feet in front of him slowly being drained.  
"Got you." The Doctor smiled cheekily, stopping in the middle of the area. He could tell, from the colour slowly being drained from the display of sweets at the back of the room, that the being was cornered. Now it was just a matter of being careful."

"So," he said seriously, "I'm the Doctor, and who exactly are you?" He paused. "Presuming you're there of course, and I'm not just making myself look like a huge idiot."

"We are the Unseen." The voice was cold, unemotional. The Doctor twitched a little.

"Nice name and all," he shrugged, "but what if you are seen? What then? The Seen? The used-to-be-Unseen?"

"We are the Unseen."

"Ok then, and the Unhumorous too." The Doctor replied. "So if that's all I'm getting identity wise, why don't you tell me why you're here? And why you want colour? Bit of an odd thing to steal, don't you think?"

"We do not need this concept you call colour." The voice responded.

"Could have fooled me." He looked around the room. "You've drained it from people, from carpet.." his glance drifted to the Pick N Mix stand behind where he assumed the Unseen was. "Oh no! And the Jelly Babies? You had to take the colour from the Jelly Babies? Now how people going to tell which ones to leave at the bottom of the bag?"

"This is of no concern to us."

"Evidently." Suddenly, the tone of the Screwdriver changed. "That's cheating! The Doctor shouted, as he felt something pull at his coat from behind. "Sneaking up on someone whilst you're invisible!" He span quickly, managing to shrug his coat off and spin on the spot in one fluid movement. If he was correct, both of the Unseen were in front of him now. The Doctor held his once brown coat up in front of him, its' grey a contrast to even his rather pale skin. "Not the coat as well!"" He groaned, stepping back a few paces, subtly looking up to the ceiling of the small sweet section. "Now you've really made me angry.

Stepping back a few more paces, the Doctor quickly adjusted the Sonic Screwdriver, and pointed it at the shutter above.

"I'm guessing you need all this colour-"

"We do not need colour."

"Well whatever it is you need, I'm guessing you need it for something. So let's see what happens when you don't get it, shall we?" The Screwdriver buzzed in to life, quickly sending the shutter crashing down, separating the Doctor from the pair of Unseen. He smiled proudly, looking around at the other people in the room, who seemed less than impressed. Looking at the walls, the Doctor could see the posters turning to a dull monochrome, walls losing their shine.

"Well, if that's taught me anything?" The Doctor sighed to himself, "Never assume they only hunt in pairs. Everybody," he shouted, his tone becoming very serious, "follow me! Run!"

He darted towards the corridor that he had come down earlier, knowing that he needed to buy some time to think. Looking back, he saw that everyone had followed his command, for once. They were even all making sure the people who had been affected by the Unseen were alright and keeping up.

"Where are we going?" One of the crowd, a member of staff, shouted loudly to the Doctor.

"Screen number four!" He replied, looking over his shoulder. "Down here on the left!"


	3. Chapter 3

"In, in, in!" The Doctor shouted hurriedly, ushering the last few people through the double doors of the cinema. No more of them seemed to have been effected by the Unseen, so at least he knew he had a bit of time. The Doctor quickly peered down the corridor, making sure no one was left behind, before he threw the doors closed and whipped the Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket. As its familiar buzz was silenced, the Doctor pulled on the door, which, satisfyingly, didn't budge.

"Well," The Doctor said quietly to himself, still facing the door, "that's one problem sorted."

The door hadn't been an issue, they never were after all. Well, unless they were made from wood. No, the main problem was the one the Doctor had to confront next. He opened his jaw wide, running his tongue around his mouth, as he practiced various expressions. Straight faced? No, too serious. Wide grin? Not serious enough. Brainy specs? He started to reach for his pocket, but stopped himself. Didn't want to seem too clever, he'd made that mistake before. The murmurs behind him prompted the Doctor to turn, rather too quickly, with little thought as to what look he was now sporting.

Whatever it was though, his expression soon changed to a serious one as he saw everyone in the room staring at him intently.

"Right," The Doctor started, choosing his words carefully, "now, there's no need to panic..." He wasn't quite sure where this sentence was going.

"No need to panic?" A rather large man near the front of the crowd relieved the Time Lord of having to continue. "There are invisible things out there, stealing the bleedin' colour from stuff!" He looked across to one of the black and white members of the crowd. "And people!" He added. "And you say there's no need to panic?

"You didn't let me finish," The Doctor half-lied, glad of the thinking time. "What I was going to say was, there's no need to panic _much._" He shrugged. "Not until we know exactly what it is the Unseen are doing anyway."

"Why are you so interested?" A girl, early teens the Doctor suspected, interjected. ""Let's just get outta here!"

"She's right!" The large balding man added. "Just who are you anyway? And what is that thing?" He gestured to the device in the Doctor's hand.

"I'm the Doctor;"

"Hold on! That thing can see where those things are!" The man interrupting, his eyes glaring intently at the Doctor now, as were those of various other people in the room.

"So that means I'm one of them?" The Doctor asked, trying to keep his cool.

"So you admit it!" The girl shouted triumphantly.

"It was a question!" The Doctor replied indignantly. He could tell this man was going to be a problem, particularly if his illogical arguments managed to convince the whole crowd in the same way they seemed to have with the girl.

"For one," The Doctor stated, stepping forward and holding his arms out, "I'm visible. If I was with these Unseen, why would I be wandering around here, being all seen and everything? Bit embarrassing don't you think?" He paused slightly, his mind running off on a tangent. "Imagine that, all your friends being invisible." He winced. "Bullying would be awful."

"Just who are you then?" Another man, a lot more sensible looking, the Doctor decided, simply by looking at his neat hair and blue shirt. "If you aren't with them I mean?"

"He's the Doctor." Terry answered for him, stepping away from the position he had held beside the doors. "And we can trust him." The Doctor beamed at him, unsure of how he had done it. Maybe it was because he was a member of cinema staff, or maybe it was just how sincere he seemed, but someone Terry had calmed the whole room down.

"See!" The Doctor said cheerfully, placing an arm on Terry's shoulder. "Good old Terry here trusts me, so why shouldn't you all?"

The murmurs had started again, but from what he could tell, it seemed to the Doctor as if the general consensus was that he wasn't a threat.

"Now that's sorted," the Doctor stepped forwards, "maybe we can work out what it is the Unseen actually want."

At that precise moment there was a loud knocking on the thick doors to the cinema screen. It started off quite gentle, as if someone was asking to be let in. The Doctor narrowed his eyes. There had been no one else out there, he's checked. He stepped back towards the doors, ready to call out, to find out if he had left anyone behind.

His question was soon answered however, as an almighty thud echoed from the doors, followed by another, and another.

"Guess that answers that question." The Doctor said solemnly. "They want us."

**

The silence of the seemingly empty cinema lobby was broken by a loud crash as an invisible body charged in to the metal shutter of the confectionary section.

"That is ill advised." The second Unseen said quietly. "The impact may damage the Reflector. That would be undesirable and may threaten the plan."

"The plan is already under threat." Came another, very similar voice. "The Doctor has shown knowledge and technology far more advanced than that of humans."

"You are right." A third voice added to the conversation, it's volume suggesting that it was walking across the now monochrome carpet towards the two captive Unseen. "The Doctor and the humans have locked themselves inside one of the large viewing rooms. However, they are no longer of use."

"And why is that?" The first Unseen asked, watching the controls on the wall on the other side of the metal doorway light up, as his comrade activated them. "We shall run out of energy soon and," he looked towards the doors of the cinema at the dark sky outside, "we can not yet leave this place."

"We no longer require energy from the humans, or this place." The third Unseen said triumphantly as the metal grate slowly started to move up, releasing the others. "For we have found a much greater supply."

All three of them turned their attention to the corridor, which led to the cinema screens. Heading towards them, apparently floating above the floor as multiple Unseen struggled to carry it, was a large wooden box.

A large wooden, black and white, box.

**


	4. Chapter 4

Hours later, the Doctor was sat quietly in the front row, staring intently at the screen ahead of him. Draped over the seat next to him was his coat, staring back up at him in its greyscale state.

"They don't need to colour." The Doctor murmured to himself. The Unseen had made that clear enough, now he just had to work out what it was they did need. He gave a quick glance to the humans behind him. The vast range of reactions really was fascinating. Some were annoyed and angry that they were being kept here, but the occasional banging from the screen door was enough to keep them inside. Others were just scared, particularly the people who had been affected by the Unseen. The Doctor had told him that they were safe, but he could say why they would have doubts. It was true though, as far as he could tell they were fine, medically. The fact that the unseen were draining colour from inanimate objects too meant that it wasn't anything biological they were taking. All in all, he thought, compared to some humans he had encountered, they were taking it all pretty well.

It was the reaction of some of the others that the Doctor found truly amazing. The thought that this was all a stunt by the cinema, a way of promoting an upcoming film. Brilliant, the Doctor thought to himself. Faced with an invisible alien race, and the human imagination turns it in to a nice little publicity stunt. It really was amazing how the human mind worked sometimes, making up completely illogical explanations and pretending they made perfect sense.

"Back to the Future." Came a familiar voice from next to him. The Doctor looked around, to see that Terry sat down.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, puzzled.

"The film." Terry smiled. "It's what I always watch when I just need to relax, some time to think."

"Oh, right." The Doctor grinned. It must have been rather obvious that he too was clueless as to what was going on here. "That was based on me you know."

"Yeah, right." Terry laughed, only to be met by a serious, and rather hurt, look from the Doctor.

"It was!" He said indignantly. "Mad old genius with an anachronistic time machine? Where else would they get the idea from?"

"So," Terry shook his head, laughing, "you have a time machine? A Delorean?"

"Of course not!" The Doctor replied quickly. "They changed that bit. Made it more exciting, they said. What's not exciting about a Police Box?" He threw his arms up in front of him. "And it doesn't have to get to eighty eight miles an hour. Stupid idea that. I mean, what does speed have to do with travelling through the time vortex? I did try to tell them!"

"Right." Terry laughed. "So you are Doc Brown?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Doctor Smith, Doc Brown." He replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Ah, but your not old." Terry said, convinced he had found the hole in the Doctors story.

"Well, no." The Time Lord replied. "Not any more I'm not, no."

"You really are mad." Terry replied. "Or just watch too many films."

"Maybe you don't watch enough." The Doctor winked, a smile on his face. Then, a sudden realisation hit him. "Because, if you did," he paused, "you might have noticed that the knocking had stopped."

Terry looked over to the door. The Doctor was right, the Unseen were no longer banging on it. He had no idea of when it had stopped and, looking around at the rest of the crowd, the majority asleep, he suspected no one else did either.

"Why would they just give up?" The Doctor pondered, jumping from his seat and handing his coat to Terry.

"Maybe they got bored?" The young man replied with a shrug. "We have been here for hours after all. It must be getting light by now."

"Hmm." The Doctor wondered, pacing up the narrow aisle between the rows of seats. It's not like mysterious alien races to just give-" He stopped suddenly. "What did you say?"

"It must be getting light?"

"Of course!" The Doctor exclaimed, grabbing his Sonic Screwdriver from the pocket of his brown suit. "They don't need the colour! Everything turning black and white is just a side effect!" He held the Screwdriver to the door with a sharp buzz.

"A side effect of what?" Terry questioned.

"Well, seeing as they wouldn't leave until it started to get light," The Doctor said quickly, rushing down the corridor with Terry following close behind. "I assume they need light for something. That would explain why they were here! Masses amounts of light at that time of night? Where else?" He slapped himself on the forehead, looking behind him to see that the crowd of people had started to leave the screen too.. "Stupid, stupid Doctor! They don't need the colour, they need to reflect the light away! That must be how they keep themselves invisible! They steal the reflective properties of an object, or person," he looked back at the affected customers, "and use it to bend light around themselves! Brilliant!"

"Brilliant?" The large balding man from earlier shouted, gesturing at the greyscale girl stood next to him. "Tell that to them!" The Doctor smiled slightly, at least there was some sort of comradery building up.

"What I mean is," he said softly, "is that scientifically, it is brilliant. But that doesn't make it right. I'm going to find them and stop them. And then reverse what they have done." His voice was loud, but calm and was met with no answer from the small crowd.

"Terry," the Doctor stepped towards the lobby, where he could see the door had been flung wide open. "They are out there, which means this," he gestured to the grey carpet, "is happening outside too. I need you to stay here, and to keep everyone else here too." He looked the young man straight in the eyes. "It's still early, they may not have affected anyone else, seeing them would cause panic. And I might need them in one place to reverse it."

"Yes Doctor." Terry nodded. "I'll make sure they stay here."

"Good lad." The Doctor smiled. Although, he had heard that many times before. As he strode in to the lobby, the Doctor just hoped Terry wasn't the type to wander off.

**

The Doctor stood at the open door of the cinema, looking down at the concrete floor outside, part of which seemed a much duller grey than the rest. Maybe it would be easier to track them than he thought. The Doctor looked up to the sky. It was light, but not too light. Probably about five or six in the morning, he thought. Good, it wouldn't be too busy. All he needed was crowds of humans panicking because everything was a little bit grey. Saying that, however, he knew he didn't have much time. People would soon start to be leaving for work, and London wasn't known for being the quietest of places.

Sonic Screwdriver at the ready, he stepped outside, scanning in an arch in front of his body. No luck. Instead, he followed the trail of grey,which lead round a corner to the left. Good old detective work! Just follow the trail and end up at the big ol' invisible base!

"Or not." He said to himself as he turned the corner. Ahead of him, the whole street had been drained. The street, shop signs, plants, benches, all were the same shades of grey.

Adjusting some settings on the Sonic Screwdriver, the Doctor started in to a run, waving the device around him as he went, searching for a signal. If anyone had asked why he was doing it, he wasn't sure he would have an answer. As yet, he had no idea what the Unseen even wanted. No one had died or been harmed, apart from losing their colour, of course. It was possible that they had crash-landed and just needed the energy to get home. Or, knowing his luck, they were planning something bigger. Either way the Doctor wasn't going to take that chance. Why was it all of those 'superior' races thought they could just pick on Earth? The Slitheen, the Sontarans, the Krillitain. All picking on a race they saw as smaller than themselves. The school bullies picking on the smaller kids. And, the Doctor supposed, that made him the teacher. Or did that sound too pompous? Probably, but if he couldn't be pompous after nine hundred plus years of travelling, then who could?

His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a buzz from the Sonic Screwdriver. The Doctor quickly turned, running to the right, listening intently as the signal started to get stronger. He suddenly shivered slightly, part of him wishing that he had bought his coat with him. But, on the other hand, grey with this suit? Not even he could pull that off, and he had pulled off decorative celery.

The intensity of the bleeping from the Sonic Screwdriver continued to increase as the Doctor sprinted as fast as he could, his concentration set on the pitch and tone of the device in his hand. Each little signal meant something to him, a tiny little language only he could understand. He'd forgotten exactly when he had gained this level of understanding of the silly little buzzes and hums the device made, not that it really mattered.

"Got you!" The Doctor exclaimed as his trusty Screwdriver changed tone yet again. As far as he could tell, a lone Unseen was just ahead of him now, apparently aware he was being chased, judging by his speed. Well, the Doctor assumed it was a he, anyway. For all he knew these Unseen might not even have a gender. Or they might even be a race he had met before, disguising themselves. Slitheen, maybe? They had a habit of dressing up after all. Mind you, they enjoyed the thrill of the chase too much. Always the hunter, never the hunted. Regardless of what they were, the Doctor knew he was going to find out. And he was going to find out soon.

His trainers thudded methodically on the pavement as the Doctor sped onwards, sweeping around the corner, his suit jacket blowing after him. It didn't have the same effect as his coat, he thought, but that wasn't important right now. He had no idea about the physiology of these things, about their limits. It was possible that it could keep on running for much longer than he could. Running had its merit, he thought to himself, but wasn't always the best solution. No, times like these needed clever solutions. Less feet, more head! Still running, the Doctor fiddled frantically with the controls on the side of the Screwdriver, searching for the right setting. Or, what he thought should be the right setting based on what he knew about the Unseen. They must have some kind of technology to shield themselves, if he could just disrupt that with a sonic burst…

The Sonic Screwdriver gave a shrill burst, prompting the Doctor to slow down as something became visible in front of him, a rough shimmering outline, not too unlike the figure of a human, but taller. It fell, as if tripping over a slab of concrete, the creature became fully visible. Not that it made much difference.

The Doctor walked forward slowly, looking over the apparently unconscious creature. Its form was indeed similar to that of a human, two arms, two legs, but all were much longer. The head too, was elongated, but had hardly any features. No eyes, no nose and just a small slit of a mouth. Its face, and whole body was pure white, the only distinguishing feature being a silver bracelet on its left wrist. Looking at the ground next to it, it appeared that it was one of a pair, the right one laying on the ground. The impact of the fall, the Doctor assumed, must have knocked it off. Cautiously, the Doctor bent down towards the small object, placing the Sonic Screwdriver in to his suit pocket. He held the silver bracelet in his hand, looking it over intently.

"Put it down." The Unseen spoke suddenly, bolting upright.

"Hello!" The Doctor said, keeping calm even though he had assumed the Unseen was unconscious. Mind you, with no eyes, how could he even tell?

"Return the Reflection Bracelet to me."

"Well," The Doctor replied, getting to his feet. "I could, but surely this is the bit where you tell me your little plan for world domination? Wouldn't that be more fun? So go on then," He beamed, "why do you want to make the whole planet look like something out of the 1950's?"

"That is just a side effect." The Unseen replied.

"I thought as much." The Doctor said, looking around him. "But now, tell me why you are here. I mean, I'd like to think it was all as simple as you being some evil race wanting to destroy the planet, but I'm willing to accept it might not be that simple. You know," he said with a large grin on his face, shades of grey and all that." The Doctor wasn't sure what reaction he was hoping to get, so the nothing he received wasn't really a shock.

The Unseen suddenly turned away from the Doctor.

"Humans are coming." It stated. "Protocol states we must not be seen by humans."

"Eh, come on!" The Doctor retorted. "They're not all that bad! Bit panicky at times," he paused, watching the unseen carefully as it reached for its one remaining bracelet. "Wait, no!" The Doctor shouted as the creature pressed a button with a long spindly finger and promptly vanished. "No!" The Doctor shouted with frustration. His fingers ran over the bracelet he was still holding in his hand. "One Reflector, one emergency teleport." He murmured. "Which means they must still have a ship in range."

He looked at the bracelet again, knowing it was his only real option. He had charged in head first in the past, and it had never ended well. People got hurt, and people died. So far there had been no casualties, and the Doctor was determined to keep it that way. Even if it meant doing something he didn't want to do.

He looked in the direction that the Unseen was heading, obvious due to the brightly coloured shop signs and plants, in contrast to the black and white of where he stood, mere feet away. Sighing, he rolled up the sleeve of his jacket slightly and snapped the bracelet on to his wrist.


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor looked down at his wrist, and saw nothing. Not even the silver device he had slipped on to it moments before. He could feel the energy field that the bracelet was creating flowing around his body, reflecting so much light away that it made him totally invisible. Looking down at where his body should be once more, the Doctor had to quickly tell him self off. He had no time to waste admiring this piece of, quite frankly, marvellous technology. Every second he used it presumably used more of the reflective energy from the bracelet, which in turn meant it had to absorb more. And he wanted to absorb as little as possible.

Quickly the Doctor set on his way, heading towards the road the Unseen had been running down. Looking at his feet he could see the subtle greys of the concrete turn in to the harsher ones that seemed to be taking over this part of the city. He sped up, looking around him for any clues as to where to go. Instinctively he reached for the Sonic Screwdriver but stopped himself after realising that the reflective bracelet probably wouldn't affect the sonic device. The whole point of using it was to remain undetected whilst trying to find the Unseen ship, and a floating Sonic Screwdriver was more than likely to draw attention to him.

The Doctor's attention was quickly bought back to where he was going, as he almost hurtled straight in to a middle-aged man in a suit, presumably off to catch a train, surprisingly calm considering the pathing in front of him was slowly losing its colour. Mind you, the change in the concrete was so subtle, he may not have even noticed. Normally the Doctor wouldn't have minded knocking in to him a little, if he was in a hurry, but not today. To avoid contact, the Doctor turned quickly throwing himself off balance, out of the mans path, but tumbling into a flowerbed which lined the path.

As the man continued on his way, oblivious that anything had happened, the Doctor brushed himself off, hoping that he had gotten all of the soil from his jacket. Running a hand through his hair, he looked down at the flowerbed, the brilliants reds now faded, replaced by a depressing grey.

"I'm sorry." He sighed. "I'm so sorry." The Doctor stopped for a moment, looking up to the sky "It's a good job no one can see me talking to plants! They'd think I'm mad!"

**

Back at the cinema, Terry had just about managed to keep everybody inside, with various free food from the concessions counter, after convincing his boss that they would be sued other wise, and free showings of whatever films they happened to have on hand. After finding one of the screens that hadn't been drained by the Unseen, it seemed that everything had finally settled down. He was just glad that it wasn't a weekend, so the cinema wasn't scheduled to open until midday.

Terry was surprised at how well he had handled the whole thing. Once the Doctor had left, he had half expected everything to descend in to chaos, not for them to listen to him, who in all fairness was just a young projectionist. But as soon as he had acted authoritive, like the Doctor, they had just fallen in line. Part of him felt that something was wrong, that they should be asking questions, but he wasn't going to complain. They were staying here, just as the Doctor had asked him.

**

The Doctor stood at the edge of a large park, staring across the huge stretch of grey grass that lay ahead of him. This had to be it, the Doctor thought. Where else cold you park a, presumably, huge invisible spaceship in London? He licked his finger, impressed at how easy it was to find his mouth without being able to see his finger, and held it in the air. "Yep." he said, to no one in particular. "Can feel it in the wind. Now," he sighed, "this will be the tricky part."

Cautiously, he stepped forward, his arms out in front of him, as if trying to navigate in the dark, which, for all intents and purposes, he was. Eventually, he found something, a metal surface, cold to the touch. Next, it was just a case of finding the door. Easier said than done, he thought to himself. Although he didn't want to get ahead of himself, he'd done that before, big ol' paradox, the Doctor did have to wonder how he was going to navigate around inside the ship. And, on that point, how the unseen even managed to fly something that was invisible.

After a few minutes of working his way around the exterior of the ship, the Doctor came across a small set of stairs. Carefully feeling his way up them, he heard a hissing noise as the invisible door slid open.

"No security." He mused, looking down at the ground now a few feet below him. "Though I guess they don't really need it."

As he stepped through the door, his earlier question was answered as the interior of the ship suddenly popped in to view. As expected, the corridors were a dull grey, including the two lights on the door panel behind him, which changed from grey to duller grey as the door slid closed. Looking at his own arms, the Doctor was relieved to see, or not see, that he was unaffected. The personal reflective bracelets appeared to work on board, where as the ships larger reflector somehow managed to restrict its effect to the exterior of the ship. Made sense really, the Doctor thought to himself. What would be the point in having a completely invisible ship? Mind you, he added, what was the point of the Unseen remaining invisible on board?

Heading down the circular corridor, which led the doctor to conclude that the ship was dome-like in structure, he looked for any signs of life. Footsteps, Unseen banging in to walls, anything, but to no avail. For all he knew, he could have passed any number of Unseen, with the luck of not bumping in to them.

Eventually, he came to a doorway, conveniently labelled "Bridge". Pressing a button to the side of it, the Doctor smiled to himself as the door slid open, revealing a circular room, with a line of consoles on the back wall. From what he could here, there were two Unseen inside.

"I shall report to command." One stated. "The discovery at the cinema was most unexpected. However, it does mean that our emergency landing was not in vain."

"Indeed." The other replied. "The plan can be moved forward several stages. Rather than draining the planet via the bracelet devices and replaying it through several ship cores, we shall be able to gather energy for the Mass Reflector from across the Universe."

The Doctor leant forward with interest, as he saw two grey cables float across the room towards a corner. Part of him felt relieved that they did appear to have made an emergency landing, but now it seemed that they had found something that had changed their plans. He hadn't heard enough to find out what they were just yet, but if it involved draining energy from across the universe, he knew it couldn't be good.

Careful not to make a sound, and slightly surprised the Unseen hadn't noticed the open door, the Doctor slipped in to the room, eager to lay his eyes on whatever the discovery the Unseen had made.

Both his hearts dropped, however, as he caught sight of the large box in the corner, its double doors wide open, revealing its massive interior, from which two cables trailed. The deep blue of the wooden exterior had gone, replaced by a soft grey, emphasised by the black panel at the top, which read "Police Public Call Box". Looking inside he could tell that the reflectors had begun to effect the interior dimension of the TARDIS too, although to a lesser extent.

Running a hand through his hair, the Doctor sighed a little too deeply. How had he forgotten to lock the door again? And, more importantly, how was he going to get the colour back? He would always love his TARDIS, but had to admit that it just wasn't the same in black and white.


	6. Chapter 6

The Doctor watched closely, as switches and cables moved, seemingly on their own, as the Unseen went about preparing the TARDIS for whatever grand scheme it was they had in mind. He was rather impressed that the pair had managed to not bump in to each other, or get in each other's way what so ever. The Doctor knew that when he was busy doing something clever, he was all over the place, bumping in to everything and everyone. He imagined it was all the more difficult being invisible.

He had been watching for a few minutes now, trying to work out exactly where each Unseen was before dashing over to the TARDIS.

"It appears one of our number has been detected." One of the Unseen said, no emotion in its voice. "They are back on board. However, their Reflection Bracelet has been removed and possibly commandeered by the Doctor."

The Doctor looked down at the bracelet on his wrist, noting that it didn't appear to act as a communication device. As the Unseen he had, well, seen, had no additional comms equipment, the Doctor could only presume that the Teleportation device, that he was lacking, also doubled up as a means of communication.

"In that case the Doctor is just assisting in our plan." The other Unseen stated, piquing the Doctor's interest. "This planet is so rich in energy, the portable devices are being maintained by the tiniest amount. Everything he touches is providing energy to the Mass Reflector." The Unseen stated, with, for the first time, a hint of emotion in its voice. The Doctor too felt a wave of emotion, lighting his face up with a huge grin. 'They are all connected." He thought to himself. This was going to be easier than he thought.

Seizing his chance, the Doctor moved from his hiding place, sweeping as silently as possible towards the black and white TARDIS. Luckily he had chosen just the right moment, noticing a set of buttons being pressed at the console at the back of the room, meaning he had a clear path straight to the doors the ship. Looking around the darkened console room, the Doctor had to resist saying something out loud to the TARDIS. Best to keep the element of surprise, he thought. Using the Unseen's biggest advantage against them.

"Preparations are complete." One of the Unseen stated, as an image of Earth, a view from space, appeared on the screen. The image quickly zoomed in on the UK, revealing a slowly growing back and white patch towards the South West.

"Are we not draining the energy from this planet first?" The other Unseen, a subordinate the Doctor assumed, asked.

"Negative." Came the reply. "That can be done at any time. We must first ensure that we can cloak the planet as we have theorised."

The Doctor frowned slightly as he listened, quickly scanning over the modifications to the TARDIS at the same time. They appeared rather simple, just a few sets of cables running from different parts of the main console to the control panel in the Unseen ship. From as far as he could make out, they eventually ended up in the Mass Reflector.

"Activating Mass Reflector" His thoughts were interrupted as the Unseen pulled a large lever on their console, lighting up various panels.

"Initiating access to Time Vortex." The Doctor jumped slightly as the crank like control on the TARDIS console started to move. The Unseen must have been standing right next to him. Holding his breath, the Doctor stepped back slightly, still trying to work out exactly what it was they were trying to achieve.

"Vortex link established. Energy flow at 100 per cent." The Unseen confirmed, as the TARDIS begun to hum loudly prompting the alien to raise its voce, the first time the Doctor had heard any of them to do so.

"Mass Reflector dispersion range set to maximum." The other confirmed. "Energy field set at 24,859.82 miles."

The Doctor took note of the number. The exact circumference of the Earth. Measured from the poles of course. The Unseen certainly seemed to know what they were doing.

"Estimating total cloaking of the planet in less than five Earth minutes." The Doctor peered out of the TARDIS doors, to the screens above the Unssen console. One showed a schematic like diagram of the ship, with a dome of energy emanating from it, encompassing the whole planet. The screen next to it, the one with the view of the Earth, had reverted to the zoomed out view, showing Earth as a whole. That was until part of it faded from view completely. "The process has started successfully." The Unseen said, pleased. "The planet will soon be ready to convert in to our base of operation."

So that was it. The Doctor had suspected it, after all, there wasn't really any other option. Why else would the Unseen want to make the entire planet invisible other than to use it for their own means. They probably hadn't even thought of what they were going to do with the population, other than use them for an energy source, but after draining them they would be useless to them. Granted, the Doctor had not yet seen the Unseen cause any harm to anyone, but he suspected they would. And that was enough. It was time to stop them.

Circling the TARDIS console quickly, he jabbed at a few switches, pulled at the bicycle-come-control a few times and threw a few levers. Easier than he thought, not for the first time today. Seemed like things were going his way for a change.

"What is occurring?" The Unseen asked, as Earth started to reappear fully on the screen. "The process is reversing?" The Doctor nodded to himself as the TARDIS central pillar pulsed, its hum changing pitch as it absorbed energy through the cables the Unseen had added, sending it straight back in to the vortex.

"This is most irregular." The Unseen stated, as it looked at the bank of buttons in front of it, watching as they slowly faded from grey to red, yellow or blue. Even the walls were losing their dull finished, turning to a brilliant silver. "The reflector bracelets are also failing." The creature looked to its companion, and for the first time, viewed its rather blank white form. Looking at its own hands it realized what was happening. "All energy is being siphoned from the Mass Reflector."

"What is happening?" The other alien asked, looking over various screens, all of which confirmed that the Mass Reflector, and therefore the bracelets, were being drained of their energy.

"I happened." Came a voice from behind them, prompting them to turn round and face the large blue wooden box. From it walked a tall man in a pinstriped brown suit. "I'm the Doctor." He beamed. "And it's so good to see you!"

**


End file.
